In 2nd run for office, McKenna offers contrasts

He once led state's Republicans

now he faces 6 of them in a crowded field

January 19, 2010|By Rick Pearson, Tribune reporter

Last April, Illinois' GOP chairman looked forward to a Republican rebirth in the next election, expressing hope that a crowded field for governor could be avoided because the last primary contest was more contentious than "constructive" and severely weakened its nominee.

"Primaries of themselves aren't bad," Andy McKenna said then. "They're bad if they become negative and people use it to try to destroy other candidates."

Six months later, McKenna was no longer the GOP chairman and became the sixth of seven candidates to enter the Republican primary for governor. He's outspending the field with expensive TV ads, including a recent attack ad contending two of his rivals "won't rule out tax hikes."

McKenna, in his second bid for public office, presents many contrasts.

He is a successful businessman, born into a wealthy North Shore family, who nearly two decades ago played a primary role in setting up a Chicago branch of a national organization that rehabs homes for low-income families. He touts himself to voters as an "outsider," though he headed a major state political party that sought to elect many people considered insiders. He pushed the state GOP to enact ethics rules -- and got stung by them.

McKenna chose Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair in August -- typically a day focused on party unity -- to announce his resignation as state chairman after nearly four years. At the time, McKenna said, it was not a move aimed at a candidacy, even though he had already dabbled with a U.S. Senate run that he later dropped when five-term U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk got in.

But in subsequent weeks, McKenna said he received overtures about a potential run for governor, including information from the Republican Governors Association headed by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, long an influential GOP powerbroker.

"That started my thinking and I thought, 'We've got a lot of people in this race, but nobody was really putting together the capacity to win in November,'" McKenna said. A candidacy for governor was officially born just weeks later.

In 2003, McKenna considered challenging incumbent first-term Republican U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald's re-election and when Fitzgerald opted not to run, he joined the field for the 2004 nomination for the open seat. McKenna finished fourth out of eight candidates after spending $4.4 million -- including nearly $2.4 million of his own money -- but said he learned some vital lessons for the governor's race.

"If you're going to win a Republican primary, you've got to dominate the message," said McKenna, whose immediate family has pumped at least $1 million into the governor's race.

"I don't think our media was as effective in getting noticed. I don't think I was as effective in speaking. I don't think I was as effective in interviews and things like that. I certainly feel that over the years I've strengthened those skills," he said. "But, most importantly, I think we're speaking to the issue that most concerns voters today, reforming spending and cutting taxes, and communicating that in a compelling way."

Just weeks after Republicans lost the 2004 Senate race that catapulted Barack Obama to the presidency, McKenna -- long a part of the GOP's financial infrastructure -- sought and won the support of fellow leaders to become Illinois Republican chairman.

"I laid out a substantive plan to invest in grass roots because I could see the one thing that Illinois didn't have that other states had effectively was a strong grass-roots organization," McKenna said.

But it continued to be lean times for Republicans during McKenna's tenure as the party, still reeling from the scandals that sent GOP Gov. George Ryan to prison, was shut out of statewide office in the 2006 elections.

"Andy's a very decent man," said state Rep. Angelo "Skip" Saviano, of Elmwood Park, a member of the Republican State Central Committee. But Saviano also contended that McKenna ran the state GOP with an "insular leadership style that relied too much on an inner circle of trusted friends."

McKenna, however, said his successes in party rebuilding through the grass roots was evident in two high-profile contests: Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole's 2007 re-election over prominent Democrat Sheila Simon, daughter of the late Sen. Paul Simon; and Republican Peter Roskam's hard-fought 2008 victory over Democrat Tammy Duckworth for a west suburban congressional seat.

"As the party chairman, Andy McKenna really stepped in and filled the gap ... to make sure that it was a well-coordinated effort," said Roskam, of Wheaton, who is not backing a candidate for governor.

McKenna also maintained he was active during his tenure in trying to keep Republican lawmakers unified in their opposition to higher taxes. He used a 2008 speech during the state GOP convention in Decatur to criticize Republicans who backed a higher sales tax for Chicago-area mass transit.

"I haven't been in Springfield for the past 20 years as many have," McKenna said. "I wasn't down there voting for tax increases as some of my opponents. I didn't vote for massive borrowing as some of my opponents have.